Bean leaf beetles (BLB) are showing up in early planted soybeans that were treated with only fungicide seed treatment. As the result of area wide use of insecticide seed treatments, this pest had much of a presence over the last decade. Thankfully, rescue treatments are still possible if threshold has been reached. Read more

CHICAGO, May 31 (Reuters) – With risks to U.S. soybean trade with China already in the air, trade threats from Mexico and Canada may be the last thing the U.S. agriculture industry wants to see. But that is precisely what happened on Thursday.

The United States fiercely angered its neighbors by proceeding with steel and aluminum tariffs against them despite earlier talks of possible exemptions. Unless the issue is resolved quickly, the impact on U.S. agriculture could worsen.

Canada and Mexico were the Nos. 1 and 3 importers of U.S. agricultural products by value in 2017, respectively. Both countries hit back with their own list of U.S. goods to target hours after the United States decided to impose tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from Canada, Mexico, and the European Union.Read more

Here are some tips to avoid injury by evaluating activities and preparing for them

Farmers take their aches and pains as part of their work, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Understanding factors that contribute to on-farm injury can be a start to reducing risk of getting hurt.

Why it matters: Farmers are busy, especially in certain seasons of the year, so reducing risk of injury when they need to be at their physical best can have important farm business implications.

Julie Anceriz, Syngenta Canada’s territory health and safety manager, told a recent Whole Farm Health seminar put on by the Ag Women’s Network, that there are ergonomic factors that affect risk of injury no matter what type of work one does, whether sedentary at an office chair or in a combine or tractor, or active, lifting and doing heavy work. Read more

https://www.thompsonslimited.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Backpain_800.jpg468800Marshahttps://www.thompsonslimited.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Artboard-2.pngMarsha2018-05-02 09:32:132018-08-01 12:02:27Day-to-day work around the farm doesn’t have to be painful

Nitrogen management has always been a challenge in high nitrogen demand crops such as corn and winter wheat.

The three pathways that can contribute to significant nitrogen loss are:

Volatilization (loss of ammonia nitrogen to the atmosphere from the soil surface),

Denitrification (which occurs when soils are saturated and in an anaerobic environment) and

Leaching (downward movement of nitrate nitrogen out of the rooting zone due to excessive rains)

The challenge has always been to make nitrogen available when the crop needs it and minimize the exposure of nitrogen to the weather scenarios that contribute to N loss. Consider the nitrogen response relationship for corn and winter wheat (below):

Corn nitrogen response curve

(Adapted from Richie, et.al, 2005, How a Corn Plant Develops).

We often apply nitrogen early in the season before the crop actually utilizes it. For example, the demand for nitrogen in corn is at its peak at about the V10 growth stage (often around early to mid-July). Split-applying nitrogen has been a reasonably effective way to reduce the risk of nitrogen loss, however, with added application costs. Read more